The present invention relates primarily to flywheels, and more particularly, to flywheels which are balanced adjustable so that they may be adapted for use with a plurality of different automobile engines and, still more particularly, the invention is directed to replacement flywheels which can be adjusted to fit a plurality of different engines and thereby reduce parts inventories.
In heavy use, flywheels, particularly in heavy-duty vehicles such as light trucks, taxicabs and the like, can crack or break or the ring gear teeth can wear and must be replaced with a flywheel which is balanced for a given engine. In automotive vehicles, because of different engine designs, a weight is welded to the flywheel at different angular and radial positions on one surface thereof to compensate for any unbalance in a particular engine design. Because the position of this weight varies according to engine design, replacement flywheels must have the weight in precisely the same position for balancing the engine unbalance and, this requires a large inventory of replacement flywheels.
The present invention solves this problem by providing a flywheel in which the weight can be positioned at different radial and angular positions so that one flywheel can serve 15 to 20 different engine designs. In a preferred embodiment, the flywheel webs are provided with means for guiding the weight to distinct discrete positions where the weight may be secured, in the preferred embodiment, by bolt threadably engaged with the weight.
In a preferred embodiment, the guide means comprises one or more slots which are slanted relative to a radial line extending from the rotary axis towards the periphery of the flywheel. In the preferred embodiment, the flywheel webs are provided with a pair of slots which have a plurality of notches, with the slot connecting the notches so that the weight can be positioned in a plurality of different positions of radial and angular adjustment relative to the flywheel axis without removing the weight from the flywheel. The slots are balanced on the opposite sides of the flywheel by removal of metal sufficient to balance the flywheel so that with total removal of the weight and screws or bolts securing the weight to the flywheel, the flywheel is perfectly balanced.
Moreover, the arbor hole for receiving the end of the arbor on the engine crank shaft is provided with a removable reducer ring so as to accommodate different diameters of arbor shafts. Moreover, in this environment, there is constant vibration and stresses on the bolts holding the weight in position and it is possible that screws or bolts fastening or securing the weighted position on the flywheel could come loose After mounting the weight and the bolts 41, 42 on the flywheel, the threads are damaged so that the bolts cannot be unthreaded without damaging the threaded bores for the bolts and preventing reuse if the bolts are removed from the weight. Other means may be utilized for preventing removal or unloosening of the bolt, for example, a metal-to-metal adhesive (such as an anerobic adhesive) can be used. Instead of notches, abutting surfaces of the weight and the web portions of the flywheel on each side of a slot may be provided with interfacing or complementary notches or ribs identifying specific locations and assuring proper positioning of the weight relative to the axis of the flywheel. In such case, the ribs are provided with indicia which can be collated or correlated to the balanced position for a given engine. In each embodiment, indicia may be printed or inscribed on the web and weight to identify particular engine types which are balanced by the weight at a particular location. Similar indicia can be screened or inscribed on the flywheel to indicate removal of the adaptor ring.
In the preferred embodiment disclosed herein, the flywheel is of the type used with automatic transmissions which includes a conventional torque converter which provides the basic inertia for the engine. While the preferred embodiment disclosed herein relates to flywheels for use with torque converters in an automatic transmission, it will be appreciated that the basic invention may also be applied to balancing internal combustion engines with manual transmissions wherein the flywheel may be a heavy iron or steel casting and includes a clutch mechanism associated therewith.
Accordingly, it is a basic object of this invention to provide an adjustable flywheel for automotive engines.
Another object of the invention is to provide an adjustable flywheel for automotive engines which eliminates the need for inventorying large numbers of different flywheels for different engine/transmission combinations.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a method of reducing the inventory requirement for replacement flywheels for various internal combustion engines having different points of balance wherein the flywheel is provided with one or more weights releasably fastened thereon and adjusting the weight by means of unfastening one or more weights so that the flywheel has points of balance corresponding to different points of balance of various internal combustion engines, respectively. Another object of the invention is to provide a replacement flywheel capable of accommodating various automotive engines having different points of balance wherein it is possible to adjust the flywheel to fit many engines. A further object of the invention is to provide a flywheel with a center adaptor to make it possible for the flywheel to fit many engines with different arbor diameters.